be drawn from it to the prejudice of the Christian
argument. For what are we comparing? A Galilean peasant accompanied by a
few fishermen with a conqueror at the head of his army. We compare
Jesus, without force, without power, without support, without One
external circumstance of attraction or influence, prevailing against the
prejudices, the learning, the hierarchy, of his country; against the
ancient religious opinions, the pompous religious rites, the philosophy,
the wisdom, the authority, of the Roman empire, in the most polished and
enlightened period of its existence,--with Mahomet making his way
amongst Arabs; collecting followers in the midst of conquests and
triumphs, in the darkest ages and countries of the world, and when
success in arms not only operated by that command of men's wills and
persons which attend prosperous undertakings, but was considered as a
sure testimony of Divine approbation. That multitudes, persuaded by this
argument, should join the train of a victorious chief; that still
greater multitudes should, without any argument, bow down before
irresistible power--is a conduct in which we cannot see much to surprise
us; in which we can see nothing that resembles the causes by which the
establishment of Christianity was effected.

The success, therefore, of Mahometanism stands not in the way of this
important conclusion; that the propagation of Christianity, in the
manner and under the circumstances in which it was propagated, is an
unique in the history of the species. A Jewish peasant overthrew the
religion of the world.

I have, nevertheless, placed the prevalency of the religion amongst the
auxiliary arguments of its truth; because, whether it had prevailed or
not, or whether its prevalency can or cannot be accounted for, the
direct argument remains still. It is still true that a great number of
men upon the spot, personally connected with the history and with the
Author of the religion, were induced by what they heard and saw, and
knew, not only to change their former opinions, but to give up their
time, and sacrifice their ease, to traverse seas and kingdoms without
rest and without weariness, to commit themselves to extreme dangers, to
undertake incessant toils, to undergo grievous sufferings, and all this
solely in consequence, and in support, of their belief of facts, which,
if true, establish the truth of the religion, which, if false, they must
have known to be so.

PART II